NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST WILL NOT CAUSE WAR OR A NUCLEAR TERRORIST ATTACK “The Israel Lobby John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt 23 March 2006 of the University of Chicago's Department of Political Science As for so-called rogue states in the Middle East, they are not a dire threat to vital US interests, except inasmuch as they area threat to Israel. Even if these states acquire nuclear weapons – which is obviously undesirable – neither America nor Israel could be blackmailed, because the blackmailer could not carryout the threat without suffering overwhelming retaliation. The danger of a nuclear handover to terrorists is equally remote, because a rogue state could not be sure the transfer would go undetected or that it would not be blamed and punished afterwards. The relationship with Israel actually makes it harder for the US to deal with these states. Israels nuclear arsenal is one reason some of its neighbours want nuclear weapons, and threatening them with regime change merely increases that desire.
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